Latest / The Newsletter Podcast with Fexingo: Substack, Beehiiv, and Email Newsletter Business / How Newsletters Use Email Segmentation to Boost Open Rates
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about something that sounds boring on paper but is probably the single highest-leverage thing a newsletter operator can do: email segmentation. Luna: Oh, I love this topic. Because everyone talks about growing the list, but almost nobody talks about actually using the list you already have. Lucas: Exactly. And the numbers are ridiculous. There's a B2B SaaS newsletter I've been following — it's called 'The SaaS Benchmarks Letter' — and the writer, a guy named Mark, told me that before he segmented, his open rate was stuck around 12 percent. After he started sending different content to three groups — new subscribers, engaged readers, and lapsed subscribers — his open rate jumped to 38 percent. Luna: That's a 26 percentage point increase. Did he change the content itself, or just the subject lines? Lucas: Both. But the bigger shift was that he stopped sending the same email to everyone. New subscribers got a three-part onboarding series with his best posts. Engaged readers — people who'd opened at least two emails in the last month — got his weekly deep dive with original analysis. Lapsed subscribers got a re-engagement sequence with a personal note asking if they wanted to stay. Luna: So he basically created three separate newsletters under one roof. That's a lot of work. Lucas: It is. But he told me it only took about an extra hour per week once he set up the automation. And platforms like ConvertKit and Beehiiv make it very easy to set up segments based on behavior — opens, clicks, signup date, even purchase history if you have a paid tier. Luna: I think a lot of newsletter writers are intimidated by segmentation because they think they need a data science team. But really, you can start with just two segments: active and inactive. Lucas: That's the smartest way to start. And the impact is immediate. I've seen a Substack writer — she runs a newsletter about vintage watches — who went from a 25 percent open rate to 42 percent just by separating her list into 'bought a watch from my affiliate link' and 'never bought anything.' She sends the first group more technical reviews, the second group more beginner-friendly content. Luna: Right, because the buyer segment already trusts her. They want deeper knowledge. The non-buyers need more trust-building. Lucas: Exactly. And this isn't just for paid newsletters. Even free newsletters benefit massively. Because higher open rates mean higher engagement, which means better deliverability, which means more of your emails actually hit the inbox. Luna: It's a virtuous cycle. But let me push back a bit — isn't there a risk of over-segmenting? If you have twenty segments, you're basically writing twenty different newsletters. That's not sustainable for a solo writer. Lucas: Absolutely. I think the sweet spot is three to five segments. More than that and you're spending all your time managing segments instead of writing. The key is to find behavioral segments that actually have different content needs. Not every demographic split is useful. Luna: What's a bad segmentation? Like, what's a common mistake? Lucas: Segmenting by age or gender without a content reason. If you're writing about gardening, maybe age matters because older readers might be more interested in perennials. But if you're writing about tech news, age doesn't tell you what they want to read. What matters is behavior: did they click on the AI story last week? Then send them more AI content. Luna: So it's about observing what people actually do, not guessing who they are. Lucas: Exactly. And the tools are getting really good at this. Beehiiv has a feature called 'automated segments' that look at recency, frequency, and engagement score. ConvertKit has 'tags' that you can apply based on link clicks. Even Mailchimp's free tier lets you create segments based on open rates. Luna: One thing I've noticed is that a lot of newsletter writers on Substack don't use segmentation at all. They just blast to their whole list. Substack does have some basic tools — you can send to free vs. paid — but it's nowhere near as granular as Beehiiv or ConvertKit. Lucas: That's true. And it's a trade-off. Substack's simplicity is its strength for writers who don't want to fiddle with settings. But if you're serious about growing, you need to segment. I actually moved my personal newsletter from Substack to Beehiiv specifically for that reason. Luna: And did your open rates improve? Lucas: They went from about 28 percent to 41 percent over three months. And my unsubscribe rate actually dropped, because I stopped sending irrelevant emails to people who only signed up for one specific series. Luna: Let's talk about the practical steps. Say I have a 5,000-subscriber newsletter on Beehiiv. How do I actually start segmenting? Lucas: First, look at your last ten sends. Identify the top 20 percent of subscribers by engagement — opens and clicks. That's your 'active' segment. Then identify the bottom 30 percent — people who haven't opened anything in three months. That's your 'lapsed' segment. Everyone else is 'moderate.' Start with those three. Luna: And what do you send to each? Lucas: Actives get your best content — the stuff you spend the most time on. Moderates get a slightly shorter version with a stronger subject line to try to pull them in. Lapsed get a re-engagement sequence: maybe three emails over two weeks, each with a compelling offer — a free guide, a discount on a paid tier — and if they don't engage, you move them to a 'cold' list and stop mailing them regularly. Luna: That last part is crucial. A lot of writers are afraid to prune their list because they don't want to lose subscribers. But a big list of dead email addresses actually hurts deliverability. Lucas: Exactly. ESPs like Gmail and Yahoo look at engagement rates. If you keep mailing people who never open, your emails start going to spam for everyone, even your most loyal readers. So pruning isn't just good for segmentation — it's essential for inbox placement. Luna: There's a great example from a writer named Sarah — she runs 'The Freelance Writer's Companion' on Substack. She told me she once sent a survey asking subscribers what they wanted more of. Only 8 percent responded, but she used that data to create two segments: 'pitching tips' and 'productivity tips.' Her open rates went from 30 percent to 48 percent within a month. Lucas: That's a perfect example of using direct feedback to segment. Surveys are underrated. Even a simple one-question poll can give you a ton of signal. Luna: And it makes subscribers feel heard. Which builds loyalty. Lucas: Right. And that loyalty translates into referrals, paid conversions, and all the things that make a newsletter sustainable. Luna: You know, speaking of sustainable — a lot of these writers are doing this on a shoestring. A couple of dollars a month from listeners is genuinely what keeps these conversations going. If these marketing strategies have sparked something you've actually used, buying me a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps us keep the show ad-free and focused on tactics that actually work. Lucas: Absolutely. Even small contributions add up and let us keep digging into these nuts and bolts topics instead of chasing fluff. Alright — back to segmentation. One advanced tactic I want to mention is using content upgrades as segmentation triggers. Luna: Oh, like offering a free PDF download and then tagging anyone who downloads it? Lucas: Exactly. If you write about email marketing and you offer a free '10 Subject Line Templates' PDF, anyone who downloads it is clearly interested in subject lines. You can then send them a follow-up sequence specifically about subject line optimization. That's behavioral segmentation at its finest. Luna: And it's automated. You set it up once, and it runs forever. Lucas: Right. And the content upgrade itself doesn't have to be elaborate. A one-page PDF, a checklist, even a short video. The key is that it's relevant to a specific interest. Luna: I want to ask about frequency. Should you segment by how often someone wants to hear from you? Lucas: That's a great question. Some people want daily, some want weekly, some want monthly. If you offer frequency preferences, you can segment by that too. But I'd only do that if you have enough content to sustain different cadences. Otherwise, stick to content-based segments. Luna: What about geographic segmentation? Is that useful for newsletters? Lucas: For local newsletters, absolutely. If you're covering New York City news, you don't want to send the same content to someone in Ohio. For most business or finance newsletters, geography matters less. But if you're writing about real estate, weather, or local events, geo-segmentation is powerful. Luna: Let me give a concrete example. There's a newsletter called 'Austin Tech Weekly' that segments by 'within city limits' and 'outside.' The locals get event invites and meetup info. The outsiders get remote job listings and company profiles. Both groups love it. Lucas: That's smart. And it doesn't require sophisticated tech — just a signup form that asks for location. Luna: Exactly. So to sum up: start with three segments based on engagement, use content upgrades to create interest-based segments, and always prune your list to protect deliverability. Anything else? Lucas: One more thing: test everything. Before you roll out a full segmentation strategy, run an A/B test with one segment. Send your regular email to your control group and a segmented version to your test group. Measure open rates and click-through rates for two weeks. If the segmented version wins, expand from there. Luna: That's a low-risk way to prove the concept to yourself. I think a lot of writers don't segment because they're not sure it's worth the effort. But a two-week test can give you the confidence to commit. Lucas: Exactly. And once you see that 15 to 20 point jump in open rates, you'll never go back to blasting.